IFSTAL Accra 2018Monday 23rd July - Lecture 2Introduction to Food Systems Thinking

Systems and Systems Thinking• Problems and how to solve them• What are systems?• Why is it useful to think about food systems?

Tame Problems

Tame Problems• Well-defined and stable

problem statement• Definite stopping point• Solution can be

objectively evaluated• Solution can be

generalised to similar problems

• Solutions can be tried and abandoned

Rittel, H. & Webber, M., 1973. Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy sciences, 4(December 1969), pp.155–169.

They may be complicated, but ultimately solvable

Complex Problems• Wicked Problems

• Share none of the characteristics of tame problems

• Transcend disciplinary, organisational, institutional, and geo-political boundaries

• Super Wicked Problems• Time is running out• No central authority• Those seeking to solve the

problem are also causing it• Policies discount the future

irrationally

Levin, K. et al., 2012. Overcoming the tragedy of super wicked problems: constraining our future selves to ameliorate global climate change. Policy Sciences, 45(2), pp.123–152.

Looking for improvement,not solvable.

Many food related issues are complex and ‘wicked’

Systems thinking is an approach to addressing complex problemsBut what is a system?

What is a system?

parts + relationships + function(s) = system

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”Aristotle

What’s not a system?

“A conglomeration without any particular interconnections or functions.”

Donella Meadows

For Example…grain alone is not a system- but is part of other systems and a wider food system that consists of parts, relationships and functions.

ARTERIES

LIVER

NERVOUS SYSTEM

LUNGS

HEARTBRAIN

MUSCLES

VEINS

SKELETON

STOMACH

SPLEEN

PANCREASINTESTINE

KIDNEYS

EMERGENT PROPERTY:

LIFE

EXERCISE: 10 minsIn your groups, choose a food issue and discuss where and how it ‘emerges’ within the food system.

[Hint: Recall your 2-3 word ‘interests’ from last night]

All problems in the food system are located in the patterns of relationships between the different parts of the system, not in the parts themselves.

Systems Thinking: a critical thinking skillSystems Thinking

• The consideration of something in its totality, its interaction with the wider environment, while also considering its constituent parts and their interactions

• Incorporating diverse perspectives

• Thinking about thinking (metacognitive skill)

awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.

What happens when we think about a system?

11Ison (2008)

Systems Thinker: Gregory Bateson

“We say the map is different from the territory. But what is the territory? Operationally, somebody went out with a retina or a measuring stick and made representations which were then put on paper.

What is on the paper map is a representation of what was in the retinal representation of the man who made the map; and as you push the question back, what you find is an infinite regress, an infinite series of maps. The territory never gets in at all. […] Always, the process of representation will filter it out so that the mental world is only maps of maps, ad infinitum.”

Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972)

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A representation of what is actuallyhappening when we think about systems

P = practitioner

F = framework of ideas/theory

S = situation

M = method or methodology

Ison, R. L. (2010). Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World. Springer London.

Boundaries in action

“Current Reality”

DSRP

A framework to help us think about food systems

Distinctions, Systems, Relationships & Perspectives (DSRP)

• We can consider systems through four interrelated patterns of thinking

• DSRP stands for:• Distinctions • Systems• Relationships• Perspectives

Source: Cabrera, D. & Colosi, L. (2008). Distinctions, systems, relationships, and perspectives (DSRP): A theory of thinking and of things Evaluation and Program Planning, Volume 31, Issue 3, August

2008, Pages 311-317

DSRP

4 Interrelated Patterns of Thinking...

Framing Questions

Making Distinctions

•What is ___ ?•What is not ___?

Organising Systems

•Does ___ have parts?•Can you think of ___ as a part?

Recognising Relationships

• Is ___ related to ___?• Can you think of ___ as a relationship?

Taking Perspectives

•From the perspective of __________, [insert question]?•Can you think about ____________ from a different perspective?

Adapted from: Cabrera, D. and Colosi, L. (2009) Thinking at Every Desk: How Four Simple Thinking Skills Will Transform Your Teaching, Classroom, School, and District. Ithaca, NY: The Research Institute for Thinking in Education.

Distinctions (Food Waste)• Definitions

• What it is and what it isn’t (boundaries)

Systems (Food Waste)

• Who is creating it? Where is it created? Where does it end up?

Actors (+organisations)Activities

DemographicsBehaviour

Systems can also be ‘nested’ within each other

Relationships (Food Waste)• How, why and when is waste being generated?• Consider the different flows of waste.• Who bears the cost? Can it be distributed?

Perspectives (Food Waste)• To what extent is waste a problem?• How do individuals, groups and organisations see it?• Is food waste linked to other problems?

Food System Frameworks

Food System – a definition

• The food system, in the sense we use it here, includes allthose activities involving the production, processing, transport and consumption of food.

• The food system includes the governance and economics of food production, its sustainability, the degree to which we waste food, and how food production affects the natural environment.

• This include issues of how food affects health and well-being, including nutrition, obesity, food security and food safety. As well as our food cultures.

Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford

A Food System > Value/Supply Chains

GECAFS Framework

Global Environmental Change and Food Systems (GECAFS) FrameworkEricksen, P.J., 2008. Conceptualizing food systems for global environmental change research. Global Environmental Change, (18), pp.234–245.

Food Environments

Turner, C., et al. (2017). Concepts and methods for food environment research in low and middle income countries (Food Environment Working Group: Technical Brief). Food Environment WORKING GROUP: TECHNICAL BRIEF. London, UK.

Food Systems: 0, 1 or ∞

Discussion (5 mins):

a. How many food systems are there in reality?

b. What implications might this have?

DSRP (reminder)

4 Interrelated Patterns of Thinking...

Framing Questions

Making Distinctions

•What is ___ ?•What is not ___?

Organising Systems

•Does ___ have parts?•Can you think of ___ as a part?

Recognising Relationships

• Is ___ related to ___?• Can you think of ___ as a relationship?

Taking Perspectives

•From the perspective of __________, [insert question]?•Can you think about ____________ from a different perspective?

Adapted from: Cabrera, D. and Colosi, L. (2009) Thinking at Every Desk: How Four Simple Thinking Skills Will Transform Your Teaching, Classroom, School, and District. Ithaca, NY: The Research Institute for Thinking in Education.

Food for thought…“How is it that one way of seeing the world becomes so widely shared that institutions, technologies, production systems, buildings, cities become shaped around that way of seeing? How do systems create cultures? How do cultures create systems?”

Donella Meadows – Thinking in Systems (2008)

Further ResourcesContinuing your systems thinking journey

Traditions of Systems thinking

Ison (2008)

Historical Development

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Ramage, M., & Shipp, K. (2009). Systems thinkers. London: Springer.

A Primer in Methods…

LEFT: Reynolds and Holwell(2010). Systems Approaches to Managing Change: A Practical GuideSpringerLondon.

RIGHT: Ison, R. L. (2010). Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World. Springer London.

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Further Resources:Systems Thinking

LEFT: Armson, R., 2011. Growing Wings on the Way: Systems Thinking for Messy Situations, Triarchy Press

RIGHT: Meadows, D.H. & Wright, D., 2009. Thinking in Systems: A Primer, Earthscan.

DSRP Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sfiReUu3o0

Further Resources:Food Systems

Geoff Tansey’s Food Systems Academy:http://www.foodsystemsacademy.org.uk/

LEFT: Lang, T., Barling, D. & Caraher, M., 2009. Food Policy: Integrating health, environment and society, Oxford University Press.

RIGHT: Lang, T. & Heasman, M., 2015. Food Wars: The global battle for mouths, minds and markets, second edition, Earthscan